1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Internet-enabled mobile devices that can provide Internet services and a method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tethering method for enabling an Internet-enabled mobile device to share the Internet services with other mobile devices, which cannot provide Internet services, by a tethering function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tethering is a method that allows mobile devices, which cannot access a communication network, to share the Internet connection of an Internet-enabled mobile device that can access the communication network via 2nd Generation (2G) or 3rd Generation (3G) technology.
Tethering has been used to provide ad hoc service in a Wi-Fi network. That is, tethering allows nodes, which are distributed and can wirelessly communicate with each other without any access point, to provide Internet services via a network of a self-controlling structure.
However, ad hoc services do not provide a stable network connection so that data cannot be stably transferred. Ad hoc services are disadvantageous in that they limit the number of mobile devices that can be connected to the network and mobile devices connected to the network cannot enter an idle mode. In order to address these problems in ad hoc services, research has been conducted to develop mobile devices that can provide a tethering function using an Access Point.
However, a need still exists for a tethering method for enabling an Internet-enabled mobile device to share the Internet services with other mobile devices, which cannot provide Internet services, by a tethering function.